Chronic disease among children nearly quadrupled between 1960 and 1998.  That doesn’t sound like an “enormous improvement in children’s health”.  – SM

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August 8, 2001

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Vaccinations Still Stir Dose of Caution”

Indianapolis Star (www.starnews.com) (08/07/01) P. A1; Barton,Gina

Although most doctors and health officials say the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the dangers, some researchers and activists continue to question the side effects and safety of vaccine use.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood immunization rates in the United States are at an all-time high, and the majority of health professionals credit immunizations for the enormous improvement in children’s health that has taken place in this country.  Dr. John Gaebler, associate professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, notes that many diseases found in other parts of the world have been wiped out in the United States because of vaccines.  In Russia, for example, children are vulnerable to diphtheria, which can cause paralysis, heart failure, breathing problems, and death, while children in the Dominican Republic are still vulnerable to polio, which can kill or paralyze its victims.  In the United States, there has not been a single case of polio for over two decades.  Nevertheless, there has been some concern about the side-effects caused by vaccines.  Parents of autistic children, for example, blame vaccines for their children’s condition, even though a definite connection has not been proven by research.  For these reasons, lawmakers have placed some immunization safeguards in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which among other things, mandates that physicians inform parents about the risks and benefits of vaccines, and also establishes a federal vaccine injury compensation system and a national adverse event reporting system.

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.